Working well in Sacramento and sending money back to Orange County were among the ideas marking the 2014 election season's first Feet to the Fire forum Thursday night.
The roughly hourlong debate in the Costa Mesa Neighborhood Community Center featured...

Dennis Baker is inclined to associate with winners.
That's not to say he won't help an organization, initiative or individual get closer to victory. But, when that doesn't work, he has no misgivings about cutting loose or moving on.
"My energy goes to...

More than 125 residents and community activists gathered in Costa Mesa to discuss Banning Ranch, a proposed development in West Newport that opponents argue will burden humans and wildlife.
The Thursday night meeting at the Neighborhood Community Center...

As construction of Sunset Ridge Park gets underway, one question has been worrying city staff: Where will visitors park?
A possible solution emerged Tuesday, when staff explained during a Newport Beach City Council study session that a 64-space pay...

Newport Beach City Council members on Tuesday crossed off one of two sites under consideration for a new community center in West Newport — and introduced a new alternative.
With declining community support, the area at Superior Avenue and West Coast Highway, across from Sunset Ridge Park, will no longer be considered for the new building.
Instead, city leaders will continue to gather more information on what a community center might look like at the end of 16th Street, a site now serving as a...

Believing in Today
Frank L. Meyskens Jr.
Fithian Press; 77 pages
If you are familiar with "Gates of Heaven," Errol Morris' classic documentary about pet cemeteries, you may recall the film's slogan: "Death is for the living and not for the dead so much."
That's a statement that applies well enough to poetry. It's easy for living authors to theorize passing — think of Dylan Thomas' "good night" or the calm driver stopping his carriage to pick up Emily Dickinson — but all our epiphanies may...

Only days remain until Armed Forces Day weekend, when the Exchange Club of Newport Harbor will display 1,776 American flags at Castaways Park.
On May 16, about 1,000 children from area schools will be bused to the site to participate in the events of the day. A formal presentation at 12:30 p.m. May 17 will feature Rear Adm. Richard Lyon, a Navy SEAL.
Take your family to Castaways Park, at Dover Drive and 15th Street in Newport Beach, and walk the venue, looking at the dedication of the 1,776 flags....

Recreational and Sporting Goods Industry Photos

We urge the City Council to slow down the apparent rush to convert the great Neighborhood Community Center (NCC) into a library. Further, we urge the city not to spend any large up-front money, nor expend any expensive city staff time, before fully informed decisions on this conversion can be made.
This center-to-library proposal – suggested by the mayor in February — seems to be not yet fully examined. Has it been open to Costa Mesa residents' full discussions and review? Has it been in...

The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday will consider a proposal to transform the city's Neighborhood Community Center into a large central library.
City staff are recommending that the council approve spending $75,000 to $100,000 to hire an architect to design conversion concepts for the roughly 24,000-square-foot downtown center on Park Avenue.
The job would also include providing a feasibility study, holding community meetings and providing preliminary construction cost estimates, according to...

For all the many temptations that the OC Fair offers, Lynsee DiMiceli sometimes enjoys nothing there more than air conditioning, a water cooler and a comfortable couch.
In fact, she feels that way multiple times a day.
The Fountain Valley High School senior hits the fairgrounds throughout the week as Olivia the orange, one of the OC Fair Foodie mascots that roam the vicinity and interact with crowds of all ages. As fun as the job may be, it gets hot in that costume, and even the battery-powered fan...

A Corona del Mar High School sophomore is representing California students at the Global Youth Summit on the future of medicine this week.
Brandeis University in Massachusetts is hosting the summit, which runs through Saturday.
Out of hundreds of applicants, Albert Szabo was one of 240 delegates invited to attend the program. Only students with exceptional academic records and test scores, as well as an interest in a health-related career, were invited to apply, according to a news release.
At the...